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Operation Wild Hunt
'Description' ''''The Ghosts of Retribution recieved word that renegade vessels of the Ebon Host were on the prowl around Subsector Ionium. The renegades soon fell upon the minor Shrine World of Artoria, and all haste was made to the planet. During the 3 weeks the chapter spent in transit the Ebon Host laid waste to the pair of Falchion-class Frigates that served as the system's defence fleet before destroying as much of Artoria as they could, resulting in almost a million citizens of Artoria killed or wounded by orbital bombardments and bombings. Once the Artorian defence was in disarray the Ebon Host focused their efforts on a mass grave site from the Reclamation Crusade led by Saint Belisarius, presumably to perform some dark spell on the countless millions of corpses and arise them from the dead as plague zombies. Fortunately the Ghosts of Retrbution arrived before any such ritual could be completed. The Aspera Dominus and Pax Sepulchrum met up with a squadron of Sword-class Frigates under Captain Havern Locke of the Imperial Navy, and with their assistance destroyed a renegade Hecate-class Heavy Cruiser with no friendly losses. During this battle the Navy Squadron dealt impressive damage upon the enemy vessel, and Pax Sepulchrum scored a scathingly critical hit on the enemy ship with its first shot ever fired in anger. Unfortunately the Hecate's sister ship, a Hades-class Heavy Cruiser entitled the ''Melancholy, was already fleeing the system when the Ghosts of Retribution arrived. But thanks to the skill of Captain Flett, who was tailing the ship to get an identification, it was confirmed to have warped back to Corozia Secundus, in the Grave of Subsector Tyranus. Now back in the mighty warpstorm, the Ebon Host must brave either Malta or the Shield Array in order to once again threaten the Sector. Strike Cruisers of the Silent Guardians tracked down a detachment of Ebon Host forces that fled the system in shuttles not capable of warp-travel. After hunting them down to the desolate, volcanic world of Heratis they rained a sustained orbital bombardment upon the landing point until no signs of life could be detected. Meanwhile the Aspera Dominus performed a merciless bombardment of the remaining enemy ground forces, obliterating over 3000 Ebon Host Cultists in short order and effectively ending enemy resistance. After making planetfall Chapter Master detected a foul taint deep beneath a temple the Nurglites had been constructing over the mass grave sites. Forging into underground tunnels, Chapter Master and his Veterans (Terminator Daveron in particular) scythed down the few Plague Marines and daemons they encountered within before any ritual could be completed. Unfortunately Captain Renard was badly wounded and Veteran Brother Gavin had to be interred into a Dreadnought after suffering terrible wounds from corrosive bile that burst from a fallen plague marine. With all enemy forces on Artoria eliminated, other Imperial factions finally arrived. Sororitas of the Order of Bloody Tears cleansed the temple and enemy encampments with sanctified promethium before burying the cursed sites forever, and with the help of Hospitallers and the reformed Artorian government order and living standards were soon restored to most of the planet. What few scattered survivors of the Ebon Host cultists remained were hunted down without mercy, either purged by soldiers or mobbed by furious locals. With Artoria saved, the Ghosts of Retribution headed towards the ruined hulk of the Hecate-class Heavy Cruiser. Though utterly crippled some signs of life remained aboard and such an ancient vessel could have any number of valuable components to be recovered. Boarding the vessel, the Space Marines swept through and crushed the resistance from the remaining plague marines and cultists, though a few brothers of the 2nd Company fell along with Apothecary Filios. Then Captain Harmantos managed to partially disarm the bomb the traitors had planted upon the vessel's reactor, buying Chapter Master time to finish his own objective. The Chapter Master, along with Sulix and several Terminators forged their way towards the powerful source of psychic interference. Along the way they were attackeed by a pair of insane plague marines who cut down Terminator Hakon before being put down. Finally reaching the source of interference, the Space Marines found a hideous and extremely powerful Nurglish psyker, who unleashed waves of chaotic energy against them. Terminator Sigismund fell to these attacks and Brother Sulix was badly wounded but the Space Marines emerged victorious nonetheless, and after executing the psyker Chapter Master inspected the Eldar they had found imprisoned nearby. Meanwhile Captain Harmantos organised a search and recovery of anything of value aboard the vessel, finding some raw wealth and a number of dubiously tainted artefcts, which were locked in stasis containers before being shipped back to the Aspera Dominus. Once all friendly Marines, dead and alive, were off the ship, it was gently nudged towards the system's star, maintaining an inexorable march towards permanent oblivion even as the reactor blew and tore apart most of what was left of the vessel. Category:Ground Battles Category:Naval Battles Category:Chapter Operations